332 FORAGE CROPS 
is not necessary, it is sufficient to plow shallow 
furrows every two to four feet and drop the cut- 
tings therein, covering them with the foot or by 
turning the soil back over them with the plow. 
“Professor Tracy remarks:—‘So easily may 
Bermuda-grass be propagated that good stands 
ean be secured by scattering a dozen or more 
sods to the acre and cultivating the land in corn 
or cotton two or three years, when the grass 
becomes distributed in the field.’ ” 
Yield and value of crop 
Bermuda-grass is relished by all kinds of live- 
stock, and in all stages of growth, making a 
palatable snd nutritious pasture and hay. Owing 
to its drought - resisting qualities, it provides 
pasture throughout the entire summer season, 
which ranges from seven months, in North Caro- 
lina, to nearly the entire year in the far South. 
It is not desirable, however, to graze throughout 
the entire year, as grazing naturally reduces the 
vitality of the plant. Neither should it be grazed 
too closely soon after planting, as this has a 
tendeney to destroy the runners, thus prevent- 
ing the formation of new plants. On established 
pastures, however, close grazing is desirable, 
because the pasture is more palatable,—the stems 
not becoming hard and wiry and less digestible. 
